Comics up for top TV honours

Harry Hill, Jimmy Carr and Little Britain duo Matt Lucas and David Walliams are all in line for top international TV awards.

They have all been nominated in the prestigious Rose d'Or Festival, which will this month award trophies to individuals after 43 years of only honoring programmes.

Walliams and Lucas have been jointly nominated for best comedy actor, where they are up against Hill for TV Burp.

For best comedy actress, Scotland's Karen Dunbar ­ who has her own sketch show north of the border but is virtually unknown in England ­ is nominated alongside Germany's Anke Engelke.

Despite ITV's poor reputation for sitcom, both nominees for best sitcom actor are from the network ­ Martin Freeman for Hardware and Hugh Laurie for Fortysomething.

The best sitcom actress honour, on the other hand, has no British interest, being between Italy's Angela Finnochiaro and Germany's Felicitas Woll.

Meanwhile Carr, right, has been nominated as best gameshow host for Channel 4's Distraction. He is up against the ubiquitous Ant and Dec for Saturday Night Takeaway.

The awards, whch also include soap opera categories, will be handed out alongside the programme accolades during the Rose d'Or Festival, which takes place in Lucerne, Switzerland, from April 13 to 18.

The festival has attracted a record number of entries, with 300 shows from 25 countries competing.

Organisers are also launching a permanent Hall Of Fame devoted to past Rose d'Or winners, including Monty Python, which will be housed in a cave carved out of ice high in the Swiss Alps.

Published: 6 Apr 2004